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Strategies & Market Trends : The Epic American Credit and Bond Bubble Laboratory -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: glenn_a who wrote (1015)	9/25/2003 12:03:40 AM
From: glenn_a	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 110194

Hi again el_gaviero. OK ... that last reply was a bit long ... so I wanted to continue my reply to your post from a clean slate. :) The previous post outlined my understanding of the core nexus of geopolitical power. It is this geopolitical capitalist political class, to my understanding, that holds true power in our global economy. You had commented "In the good ole US of A it seems to me that Washington D.C --- i.e. the political class, i.e. “inside the beltway” -- is the center of power." Well, this is certainly a center of power from a national economic and social perspective, but I would suggest that in reality they answer to higher powers ... except for the odd nut case that actually puts the well-being of their constituents above PAC campaign funds. I will also submit that the national governments are really significantly at the mercy of their respective nation's geopolitical elites that move in these circles. Much of the electoral process to my mind is in fact political theatre. Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton, for example, suddenly emerged out of nowhere to gain the presidency. In fact, they were groomed by these elites, as all Presidential "winners" inevitably are. Their presidential campaigns are "narratives", carefully crafted scripts, echoed by the corporate-owned media to justify their emergence and victory. Now if Ralph Nader were to one day win the Presidency, I'd know I was dreaming and would behave recklessly and kiss all the pretty girls in sight knowing that I was in a fantasy world. Not since Capitalist class in the U.S. got completely out of control in the Guilded age - i.e. in the era of the Robber Barons - of the late 19th century has a genuine populist stood a chance of gaining the U.S. Presidency - in the form of William Jennings Bryan. The view that Governments are actually bureaucratic pigs that clog the wheels of free-market capitalism is another fantastic illusion. I mean, as a large organization, a government can be as bureaucratic as any other large institution, and the absence of free market forces can certainly create complacency and a degree of ossification. However, governments typically enact the laws demanded by their political elites, in the form of trade laws, immigration laws for industry's labor needs - be it slave labor or otherwise, property laws (the British Enclosure Act in the 17th century (?), which privatized the British commons, is an excellent example of modifying property laws to satisfy the economic-political elite), etc. I do believe that western democracy definately has the potential to put a limit on the power of this elite. However, (a) things often have to get completely out of hand, and (b) elites are typically able to use the media to as Noam Chomsky puts it "manufacture consensus" so that the general public comes to want of their own free will precisely the same goals and mechanisms as proposed by their national elites. I do, however, find the recent emergence of the "voice of Civil Society" through alternative media such as the internet as a very provocative development. The recent endeavors by global Civil society, for example, to take the geopolitical elite to task at Cancun over WTO trade agreements is very promising. You commented "Washington has not really focused on the fact that a breakdown is occurring". My own read on this is that Washington (the center of the political arm of the American elite) is actually somewhat stunned at recent developments. The reigning political establishment I don't believe ever suspected the War with Iraq would go so badly (a war whose necessity has been realized and planned BTW, as with the invasion of Afghanistan, by at least the late 1990's, and probably earlier in that decade). Hubris truly is an extraordinary thing. As is so often the case with hubris, you start to believe your own propaganda. And I think the panic is setting in. You commented: "... I predict that soon Washington will wake up ... the crisis commences. Weird and drastic things will start coming from the Pontomac." I very much agree. And the propaganda efforts will reach even more ridiculous extremes than we've thusfar seen IMO. You further commented: "The person who thinks that a class of people with power will let power slip away and go to us - just because we have claims to real money in the form of gold - is living in a dream world. Don't forget, the political class enforces property right claims" Indeed. That's what worries me ... deeply. I worry for my children. I worry for my world. Did you see the movie Matrix? Neo asks the Oracle what the Merovingian wants, and the Oracle replies "What do all men with power want? More power!" What a tragic species we are. :( The role of gold in this affair? Hard to say. Thanks el_gaverio for tolerating this extremely long couple of replies. I hope you find them relevant. I would be very interested to hear any supporting or divergent opinions you have on anything I've stated. Best wishes, Glenn